


Switching Stations

by hunting_angel (foureyed_tozier)



Series: Reverse!Verse [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angel Dean Winchester, Angel Sam Winchester, Castiel and Gabriel (Supernatural) are Siblings, Drabble, Episode: s05e08 Changing Channels, Gen, Human Castiel (Supernatural), Human Gabriel (Supernatural), reverse!verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 14:50:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17045717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foureyed_tozier/pseuds/hunting_angel
Summary: Cas speaks up. “And if we don’t?”The trickster’s face twists into a sneer. “Then you’ll be stuck here. Forever.” He sighs, a sound that’s somehow both long-suffering and mocking. “Three hundred channels, and nothing’s on.”He raises his hand, and Castiel’s mouth barely has enough time to form the shape of a “no!” before he snaps.





	Switching Stations

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been pondering a reverse!verse recently, and this happened. I’m still working on my other stuff, don’t worry.
> 
> Generally, Cas is Dean and Gabe is Sam, but I switched a few lines to fit the characters better.

“Son of a bitch!” 

As the laugh track sounds on cue, Gabriel fake-grimaces out at where an audience would be, but ends up looking at a patch of peeling wallpaper on the far wall. 

“I’m really very sorry,” Castiel says, and he grabs the woman by her arm and leads her out. “But we need to work.” 

“But we _did_ work,” the woman says, looking over her shoulder at Gabriel. For some reason known only to television directors, she wears high-heels and a swimsuit. She smirks. “In depth.” 

Cas is quick to push her out the door, and the second the door closes, the canned smile is back on his face. “How long do we have to stay here?” He asks through his teeth. 

“I don’t know,” Gabriel responds through a similar feigned smile. “Maybe forever?” 

The laugh track sounds, loud and echoing through the small room. 

This only proves to unsettle Gabriel more, and he glances around. “We might die here.” 

The laugh track sounds again, louder, this time with a few hoots mixed in. 

“How is that funny?” Gabriel demands, dropping the act to glare at a nonexistent audience. “Vultures.” 

The laugh track sounds again, a quiet murmur of a sound, and suddenly the door slams open. 

Dean bursts in, eyes wild and cuts on his face. The audience cheers as he enters, thrilled for fresh meat. Gabriel shivers. 

“I don’t have much time,” Dean rushes, looking right to Cas. “I just got out.” 

“Out from where?” Castiel asks, but Dean ignores him. 

“Listen, that sonofbitch isn’t who he says he is- he’s too powerful-” suddenly, Dean flies back through the room, slamming agaisnt the wall. When he looks up, his mouth is sealed shut with duct tape. 

The door to the small room opens, and the trickster steps in. 

The omniscient audience cheers again again, but this time with admiration as the star of the show enters. 

“That’s enough of that,” the trickster says with a self-satisfied smile. The applause stops, and he turns to look at the angel struggling to stand. “Hey, Dean!” With a flick of his fingers, Dean cuts out of the room with a flash of television static. 

“Where did you put him?” Castiel’s eyes are hard as he glances from the space Dean once occupied to the trickster. “Let him go.” 

“He’ll be fine,” the trickster says dismissively, flapping a hand. “Probably,” he adds, almost as an afterthought. The laugh track returns full force, echoing through Gabriel’s ears like nails on a chalkboard. 

“Enough.” Castiel steps forward in a defensive stance, putting himself between the trickster and his brother. “I’m tired of your games. We get it.” 

The trickster sneers, crossing his arms. “Get what?” 

“Play our roles.” Castiel gestures around them, to the canned setting and in the general direction of the laughter. “That’s the game.” 

“That’s only half of the game,” the trickster’s words are harsh, the biting cynicism overpowering the playfulness of his solution. 

“Then what’s the other half?” Castiel’s confusion shows in his cat-like head tilt and the slight furrow to his eyes. 

An inkling tugs at the back of Gabriel’s mind, but he pushes it down, the thought too horrible to consider again. 

“Play your roles... _out there_.” the trickster jabs to the door over his shoulder like it actually leads somewhere, like they hadn’t tried it already. 

“I don’t know what you mean.” Cassie keeps pushing, keeps asking questions and encouraging him, but Gabriel just stares, his mind already filling the blanks the trickster leaves in increasingly horrible scenarios. 

“You do.” the trickster finally shifts his gaze to Gabriel, his gaze heavy with unspoken words. “Gabriel, starring as Lucifer.” He looks back at Castiel, lip curling. “Castiel, starring as Micheal. Your celebrity deathmatch.” He pauses, but Cas and Gabe simply look at him in stunned silence. “ _Play your roles,_ ” he stresses, looking between the angelic vessels. 

“You want us to say _yes_?” Cas is completely lost, his fury and confusion mixing together. 

Gabriel finally speaks up, his indignation pushing enough to drive him to words. “If we do that, the world _ends_.” He couldn’t do that to humanity, couldn’t wipe billions of people from the face of the earth because he messed up. He shifts to grap a weapon that’s not there, and he’s once again reminded how completely helpless he is in the presence of this... not-trickster, if you listen to Dean. 

“Yeah? And whose fault is that?” the trickster glares pointedly at Gabriel, and then at Dean. “It’s started. It’s _done_. There’s nothing you can do. So just _finish_ it.” The words have a hint of desperation, the mask of a command slipping a bit for the pleading side to show through. 

“Who are you working for?” Castiel doesn’t seem to notice the tone, going straight for motive. “Lucifer of Micheal, who is it?” 

The trickster scoffs. “Neither.” 

“Oh, you’re working for one of them.” Gabriel speaks up, stepping forward, surpassing his little brother in a moment. He gets up in the tricksters face, not letting the man’s considerable height scare him off. “You’re somebody’s bitch.” 

The trickster growls, grabbing the front of Gabriel’s coat and turning to slam him into the closed door. “Do not presume to know what I am.” He lets Gabriel drop to the ground, and turns to look at Cas. “Listen closely, because here’s what’s going to happen. You two are going to suck it up, accept your responsibilities, and say the big yes.” 

Cas speaks up. “And if we don’t?” 

The trickster’s face twists into a sneer. “Then you’ll be stuck here. Forever.” He sighs, a sound that’s somehow both long-suffering and mocking. “Three hundred channels, and nothing’s on.” 

He raises his hand, and Castiel’s mouth barely has enough time to form the shape of a “no!” before he snaps.


End file.
